Ruffian, Barbaro, Eight Belles, etal, what are common factors in such racehorse breakdown cases? - Page 5

The track is Bay Meadows, south of San Francisco. I don't think Penn has a turf course. I don't want to admit what the year was. LOL

SS

Yep, Penn has a turf track - or did when I worked there.  I don't remember that "curb" there either.  But it's been a few years since I've been there :)  Only a few :)

molly

The "curb" in the photo is actually a concrete drainage swale. I know... I landed in it a few times. LOL Its a wonder I am still in one piece (sorta) after those years on the track.

I am not a breeder so I can't speculate on what part her breeding played in this horrible tragedy.  It was not an accident - she did not step in a hole. 

I keep watching the videos of the end of the race and of her actual collapse and I getter more upset each time.  Toward the end of the race you can clearly see her through her head and it sure looks like she changed leads to me and the jockey would not quit flailing on her - all signs that something was wrong before she ever hit the finish line.  I can't help but think that had a more experienced and caring (I'll get to that) jockey been riding her that she would have been pulled up immediately after crossing the finish line and she may very well have had a chance for a complete recovery.   As for the jockey, he just walked away!  NO EMOTION WHATSOEVER!  He did nothing to comfort her and he just walked away!  I think that he was just pissed because he didn't earn his bonus for winning and he wasn't paying any attention to his mount.  Some have said that she was just a hard horse to stop and that is why she was still galloping so long after the finish - hog wash - I don't think he was trying to pull her up at all.   How in God's name could anyone with any heart do nothing to comfort her and just walk away.  How could a professional jockey not have read the signs that something was horribly wrong.

Anyway, horses continue to grow until they are 5 and anyone who knows anything about horses knows that starting these babies before they are 2 and racing them at 2 is just asking for accidents to happen.  If the industry would push the minimum racing age to 4 years that alone would prevent many injuries.  The goal should be to wind up with a horse that will be sound when it leaves the track - instead of the seeming current philosphy of run them early to see if they will make any money, use them up and then discard them.

To get a truer picture of how many more racehorses break down than ever come to public attention, check this link!

http://scrollsequus.blogspot.com/search/label/2008

The role of Native Dancer in producing soundness problems is well known...in a television interview, the trainer, jockey, or owner of Eight Belles (all were in the interview, I can't remember which said this) spoke of the need to incorporate bloodlines strong on soundness, to try to counteract the heavy inbreeding/linebreeding on Native Dancer.  The problem is, it's speed that wins the race...and in the interview, one of those being interviewed commented that the sounder lines also tended to be slower.